‘Smart System’ on early child development based on scientific facts

Raising smarter babies is easier to accomplish once parents understand some of the scientific bases that explain the workings of the brain, body and nutrition in the early stages of life.

They will also understand why the Smart System of Early Childhood Development, a set of developmental procedures developed by Mead Johnson, is very effective in enhancing a child’s health and intelligence.

Smart Play, one of the basic components of Smart System, was developed from the fact that infants are highly attracted to colors that provide the most contrast, such as red, white and black.

Studies have shown that they prefer to look at these colors more than bright pastels, which is why they are used in select play items and in patterns that further attract babies’ attention, such as spirals, checkers and lines.

There are other facts that can provide guides to play suggestions. Babies a few weeks old see high contrast within 13 inches from their face. They can fixate intently on an object, and the repeated sight of appealing objects help increase their attention span.

The next component of the Smart System, Smart Symphony, originates from the well-documented studies on the effect of classical music on newborns.

Dr. Grace Koo, a degree holder in music and a graduate school teacher in Educational Psychology at UP Diliman, says, "Classical music soothes and calms newborns and helps them adjust to life outside the womb. One reason could be that the soothing rhythm of classical music is similar to the mother’s heartbeat, which surrounds the baby from the moment it begins in the womb."

Of all the non-speech sounds, music is said to be the most powerful because it stimulates the right hemisphere of the brain, fostering creativity. Research even on prenatal babies reveals that exposure to violin sounds showed significantly advanced behaviors in terms of gross and fine motor skills, linguistic development, somato-sensory coordination and enhanced attention and vocalization.

Among all the components of Smart System, however, the most essential is still Smart Nutrition. This program was conceived based on years of studies that focused on identifying the proper nutritional ingredients that would enhance the physical and mental development of the child.

Among the findings is the importance of Docosahexaenoic Acid or DHA, which is a long chain of polyunsaturated fatty acid that makes up a large part of the human brain and retinal tissues.

Dietary research has stressed that adequate supply of DHA during infancy is the specific factor that is associated with optimal visual acuity and improved intellectual capability.